In the distance, the sound of horns echoed through the wind and snow.
Northern Liang Heavy Cavalry commander Ruobaluoneng sat high atop his horse. With a single hammer blow, he smashed a Servant Soldier who was scurrying about at his side, then swept his gaze around.
Corpses lay strewn across the ground.
The earth had been trampled into filthy black mud, with blood pooling in every hollow and rut.
In this battle, eight hundred heavy cavalry and three thousand Gate Soldiers had defeated twenty thousand enemies. The results could be called dazzling.
Yet as Ruobaluoneng looked at the city wall still standing before him, little joy appeared on his face.
Their predetermined objective of taking the city had not been achieved. Tactical success could not conceal strategic defeat.
Unfortunately, with things having come to this, there was nothing to be done.
Ruobaluoneng turned his horse around and spotted several groups of troops in the east, moving separately as they searched for suitable places to cross the river.
"Whose troops are those over there?" Ruobaluoneng asked, raising his iron hammer to point ahead.
A Scout beside him urged his horse forward and reported, "They are Cui Family troops."
"The Cui Family?" Ruobaluoneng recalled that they were, like the Xie Family, a second-rank great clan of the Great Jing Kingdom.
He licked his lips and sneered. "Then we definitely cannot let them go."
Ruobaluoneng carefully examined the scattered positions of the Cui Family army ahead.
The mountains and forests downstream were rugged and unsuitable for cavalry charges or flanking maneuvers, while upstream lay an official road, flat and open.
There was also a Cui Family force advancing in that direction.
After a brief consideration, he had already settled on a plan. He shouted, "Send orders to Heavy Martial Pavilion. Split into four